Joffe Bill関連新聞記事：Guardian・Observer（2006）

○国会議員が'より良き死"に向けてキャンペーン開始
MPs campaign for 'a better death'
H?ne Mulholland and agencies：The Guardian
「全国民に尊厳ある死の機会を与うるようＮＨＳの資源を再構築するべき」超党派の新生グループ旗揚げ
NHS resources should be restructured to give everybody the opportunity of a dignified death, a new cross-party parliamentary group said today.http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,1683166,00.html

…These religious opponents have every right to believe in their strict i
of the sanctity of life, but no right to impose their belief on others. There is no doubting what society wants. Over 80% in a succession of polls have supported the principles of the bill. It is time parliament ended a medical practice which requires too many terminally-ill patients to inch towards death through a torture chamber.http://www.guardian.co.uk/leaders/story/0,,1689528,00.html

彼女は、英国とウェールズにける医師幇助自殺法制化のブレインであり、法制化によって、もっとも脆弱な人々がより保護されると主張する。
She is the brains behind the bill to legalise doctor-assisted death in England and Wales, insisting that the most vulnerable people will be better protected. Alison Benjamin talks to the chief executive of Dignity in Dyinghttp://society.guardian.co.uk/health/story/0,,1693767,00.html

◆Thursday January 26, 2006

○読者からの手紙：死に行く人のケアが最優先されるべき
Letters ：Care for the dying must be the first priority
The Guardian
1月19日付の論説で示された事実は示唆に富んでいたが、より正確に理解されるべき必要がある
The facts given in your leader (Euthanasia: Moving to a more open system, January 19) make fascinating reading but must be properly understood.http://www.guardian.co.uk/letters/story/0,,1694780,00.html

○Ｊｏｆｆｅ卿の自殺幇助方は、"すべり坂"ではない。望む人々へのあわれみ深く配慮に富む解決法だ
（哲学/倫理学者 Mary Warnock）
Lord Joffe's bill to permit assisted dying for the terminally ill is not a 'slippery slope'. It is a compassionate solution for those who wish it

Doctors have launched a new battle against euthanasia ahead of a crucial vote in parliament, arguing that seriously ill patients who beg to end their lives often go on to change their minds. Peers will vote on Friday on a private member's bill that would allow a terminally ill adult to ask a doctor to help them die, so long as they were judged to be suffering unbearably.
Doctors opposed to what is termed physician-assisted suicide argue it would lead to pressure on vulnerable people not to be a burden to their carers, and they are rallying patients who have suffered serious degenerative illness in support of their argument.

◆Tuesday May 9, 2006

○6.15pm
Physicians oppose assisted dying bill

H?l?ne Mulholland
Almost three-quarters of physicians are opposed to helping patients to die, according to a survey published today.
The findings by the Royal College of Physicians revealed members' widespread opposition to the assisted dying bill ahead of its second reading in the Lords this Friday.
The bill - introduced by the former human rights lawyer Lord Joel Joffe last autumn - outlines measures allowing doctors to give terminally ill patients wanting to end their lives a fatal dose to self-administer.http://www.guardian.co.uk/medicine/story/0,,1771167,00.html

○わたしたちを殺戮するな！早まった死を治療選択できる法制化は、障碍者への脅威である
Stop trying to kill us off The legalisation of premature death as a treatment option is a threat to disabled people

Jane Campbell：The Guardian
Assisted dying is not a simple question of increasing choice for those of us who live our lives close to death. It raises deep concerns about how we are viewed by society and by ourselves. I have a severe form of spinal muscular atrophy, and require 24-hour assistance. Many people who do not know me believe I would be "better off dead". Even more argue: "I couldn't live like that." And some suggest that advances in genetic screening should be used to enable parents to choose whether to have a child with disabilities.

? No need for change, Royal College of Physicians says
? Poll reflects shift from neutrality to opposition

王立内科医師会は、法改正の必要性は無いと大多数の構成員の声の集計として、医師会としては医師が終末期患者の死の援助が許されるような法改正には反対であるとの立場を示した。
The Royal College of Physicians yesterday came out against a proposed law that would allow them to help the terminally ill to die, after a big majority of members consulted said there was no need for a change in legislation.

The RCP also released details of a consultation exercise it conducted among more than 5,000 of its 16,000 members.

Asked whether they agreed that, with improvements in palliative care, a change in legislation was unnecessary, 73.2% said yes, with 26% disagreeing. Over 95% of palliative care experts said there was no need for a change in the law.

To counter charges of bias, doctors were then asked a second question, set by Lord Joffe
: "Do you believe that a change in legislation is necessary for the small number of terminally ill patients for whom palliative care does not meet their needs?"

Of the 2,144 responses received, the percentage opposing a change to the law
remained virtually identical, at 71.3% against 28.1% backing change.

「……これはまた、非常に革新的な突破口であって、多くの医療関係者や、信心深い人々を悩ませるであろうことは誰も否定できない。しかし、死に行く人の理にかなった選択が、最も重要視されるべきだ。死の床にある人々は、いのちの尊厳についての講義を聴かされるべ 'abではないし、彼らもまた、半信半疑の彼らへの治療の効力、すなわちまたは二重効果説だまされずにいる権利がある。Joffe卿の法案は成立される価値がある。」
No one denies it is also a radical break with the past and that this is an issue which troubles many health professionals and people of faith. But the rational choice of a dying person should be paramount. The terminally ill should not receive lectures about the sanctity of life and they also have the right not to be deceived about the often dubious efficacy of their treatment, or its so-called double effect. Lord Joffe's bill deserves to succeed.

「お互いを気遣いあう社会として、耐え難い苦痛に苦しんでいる終末期の患者が社会全体の全のために苦しみ続けるべきだという事実について、甘んじて受け止めて、傍観していることはできない。」
"As a caring society we cannot sit back and complacently accept that terminally ill patients suffering unbearably should just continue to suffer for the good of society as a whole,"
Lord Joffe told the Lords.